Augusta, Georgia, United States: Jung Min-seo maintained her title challenge while Ko Kurabayashi produced a spectacular comeback on day two at the 2025 Augusta National Women’s Amateur (ANWA).
Korean Jung followed her opening 68 with a one-over-par 73 at Champions Retreat Golf Club in the elite 72-strong field that features 47 of the top-50 from the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).
With a 36-hole total of three-under 141, she will head into Saturday’s final round at Augusta National in a share of 12th place, six shots off the pace being jointly set by American Kiara Romero and England’s Lottie Woad, the defending champion and WAGR number one.
Jung will be joined in the final round by four other Asia-Pacific representatives – Thailand’s Eila Galitsky (tied 17th, 142) and Achiraya Sriwong and Japan’s Mamika Shinchi and Kurabayashi (all tied 27th, 143).
Galitsky, the 2023 Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP) champion, added a 72 to her opening 70. Sriwong and Shinchi also carded even-par 72s on day two to squeeze through.
The round of the day, though, came from Kurabayashi, who was languishing in 68th place after an error-strewn first-round 78. On day two, the 19-year-old snared seven birdies in a bogey-free 65, the best score of the day, to progress.
But there was disappointment for the remaining members of the Asia-Pacific contingent, most notably WAGR number two Mirabel Ting of Malaysia who missed the cut by one shot after improving on her first-round 76 by eight strokes.
Also making an early exit were China’s Zhou Shiyuan (146), Chinese Taipei’s Cindy Hsu Huai-chien, Hong Kong’s Arianna Lau and Malaysian Jeneath Wong (all 147), New Zealand’s Eunseo Choi (151), Thai Suvichaya Vinijchaitham (152), Korean Oh Soo-min (157), Australian Sarah Hammett (159) and Japan’s Tsubasa Kajitani (165), the 2021 winner here.
All participants will play a practice round at Augusta National, the home of the Masters, on Friday. The 32 players who made the cut advance to Saturday’s final round there.
Spain’s Carolina Lopez-Chacarra, in her fifth appearance, and Italy’s Carolina Melgrati, in her third appearance, both made the cut for the first time. Five-time participant Amanda Sambach advanced to the final round for a third consecutive year.
All six current roster players from Stanford University advanced to the final round: Megha Ganne, Meja Örtengren, Andrea Revuelta, Paula Martin Sampedro, Nora Sundberg and Kelly Xu.
Anna Davis will also play in Saturday’s final round for the first time since winning the 2022 championship.
Jung, Kurabayashi and Achiraya were among nine players to advance to the final round in their championship debut, along with Emma Kaisa Bunch, Caroline Canales, Kary Hollenbaugh, Mackenzie Lee, Elise Lee and Scarlett Schremmer.
Five former Drive, Chip and Putt National Finalists also advanced to the final round – Gianna Clemente, Asterisk Talley, Mackenzie Lee, Xu and Ganne.
